Last Wednesday Dee and Mike Freestone, owners of Good Life Granola, won a Start Up to Watch award at the Making It In Michigan conference in Lansing. On Thursday they were back in Hart whipping up another batch of their award-winning granola.

The Freestones and Good Life Granola are based out of Holland but they use Hart's Starting Block Kitchen Incubator to produce their product.

The Starting Block had its fifth anniversary recently. It is a non-profit regional kitchen incubator and entrepreneurial center where small business owners can learn more about food production and what it takes to start a business.

The award they won recognizes an emerging or established Michigan State University Product Center customer who has demonstrated excellence, innovation and growth in the past five years.

Receiving the award was a surprise, Mike said, because there are a lot of companies out there making good products.

The Freestones began making Good Life Granola at the Starting Block about two years ago after Dee couldn't find granola that she liked in the store. She started making the granola on her own and giving it to friends and family.

"We knew we had a good product but we didn't have a place to make it," Mike said.

That's when they heard about the Starting Block.

"It's been very instrumental," Dee said.

The whole product is produced at the Starting Block. Thursday the Freestones made about 300 pounds of product. They started with about 150 pounds of oats, mixed it with other ingredients in a tumbler, baked it and packaged it.

"It's an awesome place," Mike said of the Starting Block. "If you can't make it, you can't sell it."

Now Good Life Granola is sold at various grocery and health food stores, including Meijer stores along the Lake Michigan shore.

Businesses that rent space at the Starting Block have access to equipment, storage space and other business necessities.

"It's difficult to buy your own equipment when you're trying to start your own business." Mike said.

Starting Block Director Ron Steiner said start-up businesses typically use the incubator for up to three years. Businesses are not kicked out of the incubator after that time, Steiner said, but it's usually enough time for the owners to decide whether an idea is going to work or not.

While the incubator is a licensed commercial food facility, individual businesses and clients must also be licensed by the Department of Agriculture.

Steiner said licensing requirements for individual clients include a test and a trial run with the Michigan Department of Agriculture food inspector present.

Five Years in the Making

The Starting Block was the first kitchen incubator in the state. Not only is it an incubator for new businesses, but it's an incubator for new ideas for an existing business.

"We incubate passion," Steiner said.

Sometimes a larger food processor will want to experiment with making a product before taking on the costs and effort to make it in their own location.

The Starting Block received a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant when it began, which helped with the lease of the building and getting some equipment into it.

Currently the incubator has grown to having about 35 clients ranging from businesses just starting out to ones about ready to graduate and move on from the Starting Block.

"Nine out of 10 times it's the family story," Steiner said of the products produced at the Starting Block. Someone has a family recipe and decides to try to make a business of it.

"They never had a place to go unless they bite the bullet, get financing and buy their own equipment," he said.

Summer months are typically busier than winter months at the incubator because of the number of farmers markets products are sold at.

On site at the Starting Block are equipment for food processing and packaging, a walk-in freezer, dry goods storage and other storage areas. Offices are also available for rent and can include desks, chairs, wireless Internet and phone connections.

Clients come from as far as Grand Rapids and Lansing to use it.

"We want to be an entrepreneur center," Steiner said.

Classrooms, training, counseling and marketing ideas are also available through the incubator.